President Donald Trump’s recent social media declaration of an imminent summit with Vladimir Putin appears to have been premature. On Tuesday, officials from both the US administration and the Kremlin confirmed that no such meeting is planned for the “immediate future.”
Trump had generated significant attention after a phone call with Putin last Thursday, which he described as “progress.” He quickly posted online that he would meet the Russian leader in Budapest within two weeks.
However, an anonymous US official poured cold water on that claim. “There are no plans for President Trump to meet with President Putin in the immediate future,” the official stated, effectively walking back the president’s announcement.
This followed a “productive” phone call between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday, intended to arrange the Budapest logistics. The official noted that after the call, a separate in-person diplomatic meeting was deemed “not necessary.”
The Kremlin mirrored the US stance, telling reporters Tuesday there is “no precise timeframe” for a summit. This diplomatic confusion comes as Trump also navigates relations with Ukraine, having been scheduled to meet President Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss sophisticated Tomahawk missiles.